In the field of telecommunications services, cellular carriers and other service providers have developed and deployed data networking services of steadily increasing speed and robustness. Smart phones and other devices capable of wide area network (WWAN) connections, such as cellular broadband data connections, can now routinely provide users with data rates in the range of hundreds of kilobytes per second, megabytes per second, or more. However, the consumption of relatively high-speed data services over the cellular network fabric faces constraints to both the user and service provider. From the user's point of view, many cellular and other subscriptions impose a cap or limit on data usage over a month or other time period, and exceeding those types of caps or limits can incur an overage cost. In addition, exceeding data caps can also cause the temporary downgrading of allowed data rates, or other constraints or effects.
From the perspective of the network service provider, providing a user with relatively high-speed data services can impose an increased occupancy load on the expensive licensed spectrum operated by the provider. The delivery of those data services can likewise increase the load on the core network of the service provider, reducing the total throughput available to additional voice, data, or other users.
Wireless local area networks (WLANs) such as WiFi™-based networks or others can provide smart phone users, or users of other devices, with a comparatively low-cost and widely-available alternative data connection through open routers or public access points. In addition, different WiFi™ implementations can deliver data rates that are comparable or greater than those available through the cellular network. WiFi™ connections using the IEEE 802.11ac standard can, for instance, achieve data rates of approximately 500 megabits per second, using 80 MHz bandwidth and two receiving antennas. Many smart phone and other devices today incorporate the capability to use either a WWAN or WLAN type of data connection.
However, generating a transition, on-the-fly, from a cellular data or other WWAN connection to a WiFi™ or other WLAN connection is presently not an easy transition to facilitate or perform. One of the notable challenges is that a significant delay can be imposed before the user can be securely moved from a WWAN connection to a WiFi™ or similar connection, which can interrupt the user experience, such as, merely for example, causing a lag or stoppage in a video data stream.
One of the factors contributing to the network-to-network handoff delay is the overhead that is needed to discover, authenticate, and transition the user from a cellular data connection to a WiFi™ connection, which in many cases must be selected from a potentially large number of WiFi™ channels. In aspects, the 5 GHz band used in current WiFi™ implementations can include over 20 possible channels to be searched. Once a selected WiFi™ channel is identified from among that collection of channels, the user next, in addition, needs to be authenticated. The authentication stage can include backhaul traffic to an authentication server and/or other authentication site or service, to ensure that the user is entitled to connect via the subject WiFi™ router or other access point. Depending on the keys, encryptions, and other techniques used, the authentication process can incur a significant processing delay, in itself. Even further, once a channel is selected and authentication is complete, the user's smart phone or other wireless device will typically require an assignment of an Internet protocol (IP) address for their WiFi™ session, a process which can impose additional processing overhead and delay.
It may be desirable to provide methods and systems for an enhanced network handoff to wireless local area networks, in which a wireless handoff gateway platform can be interposed in a wireless network environment, and speed and facilitate the association of a wireless device with a WiFi™ or other network, in part by pre-loading necessary device, access point, and network data before a handoff event takes place.